Wall-E - 2008

Animated/ Rated G

On DVD/Bluray

Ron's Review

Pixar apparently is not short on story ideas, a rich pool of voice actors, or talented animators and technical wizards. All of this has never been more obvious than in their latest, Wall-E. As a hopeful future animator, I was able to pinpoint technical brilliance the whole way through, but it really doesn't require an artist's eye to appreciate that this is a gorgeous film. (Can it really be considered film? The debate continues) It may however take a few viewings to take it all in. Unfortunately, the first time I saw it I was trying to break in a trial pair of contact lenses, so most of what I saw at the theater were rapid moving bright and blurry images. Fortunately I've since been able to watch it on Bluray and have not been dissapointed. Pixar has not only mastered movement and digital complexity, but also the realm of solid story telling and character development. One could say they may have gone out on a limb by having the lead characters not speaking, even by not being human at all yet you can see how well planned and thought out the character development really was, through actions, little quirks, and brilliant methods of having robot emotion translate visually into cues that we humans can relate to. After all, Pixar has never had trouble getting it's audience to care about non human characters. It's not until after the first half of the movie that we are introduced to space faring humans and spoken dialogue. Some have criticized the second half as the weaker of the two for this reason, but I thought it segued pretty smoothly from the first half. To me it was pretty much two episodes of a larger story, the first half was quite interesting for sure, but would have become pretty tedious and boring without the second half to balance it out. Wall-E is a simple story in itself, made a tad more complex by the underlying secondary plot of re-establishing sustainable life on Earth. Seemingly a perfect blend of story and whimsy which appeals to kids (who will undoubtedly watch it multiple times) and adults for it's little nods to other films of the science fiction genre, as well as parodizing the state of humanity in modern times. Really words can't do it justice, so you'll just have to watch it on your own to see why the movie sticks with you (in case you've been living in a cave all last summer and have never seen it). The support cast of Wall-E, and perhaps even Wall-E himself may not be as memorable as Woody and friends or even the cast of the Incredibles - it has sacrificed cuddly characters for a more mature plot with slightly darker humor and themes than Pixar usually offers, but I can definitely appreciate it for pushing the envelope and daring to develop something more. Yet curiously it will fit in rather well with the rest of your Pixar library. Be sure to check it out, you won't regret it, even after you have to fast forward through about twenty or so Disney previews and propaganda.

Ron J.

A-



Kip's Review

Johnny 5 needed a bolt of lightning to get a personality, but Wall-e had plenty from the start. He has courage and drive when other supposed "alive" robots would say: "No Dissasemble!"

This movie was awesome. While other animations have also been awesomely awesome (Kung Fu Panda), this one has the best film-like animation sequences and is packed with heart. Disney/Pixar sure gets the cute robot movie award. Oh and who couldn't watch fat people puttering around in their personal hover seats all day.

Viewing Ideas: While viewing this Pic I recommend Twinkies and Tang.

-Kip J.

A-


Average Rating A-